DIY Weddings

Throwing your own bash at home is becoming a fantastic option for those with a larger garden, saving thousands on booking a venue. If you're planning a pre-wedding get together, an outdoor wedding breakfast or evening party, check out the range available from Market Gazebo World. Here Stephen Evans, managing director, explains why the range is ideal for an outdoor soiree…

Saying vows under a wedding arch is a centuries old tradition full of romantic meaning, symbolising the home that the couple will build together. For weddings held outdoors, arches and arbours also provide a beautiful focal point for the ceremony, and an attractive backdrop for pictures.

If you are planning an outdoor wedding, there are many hire companies around the country from whom you can rent an arch for the day. A much more special alternative, though, would be to be able to take your very own wedding arch home with you, to keep in your garden as a constant reminder of your big day. You could even grow your own wedding flowers over it, seeing them grow larger and stronger with every anniversary that passes.

Weddings are a joyous occasion to celebrate the love between two people and what better way to commemorate this than making your personalised wedding stand out from the rest by adding extra personal features to the day itself.

Whether it’s table decorations, wedding favours or gifts for your bridal party, Dremel offers a variety of tools to help put your own stamp onto items for the big day. Here are some of Dremel’s top suggestions to help make your special day even more memorable:

Dremals top suggestions for a personalised wedding

Catering arrangements and having the perfect wedding cake can be daunting, especially if you or your guests have specific dietary requirements, but fear not, now there’s a cake to suit everyone’s needs and your budget.

Whether your wedding is small and intimate or bursting with guests, the aim is to host a celebratory party that’s inclusive to all. Within many groups of family and friends, there is likely to be a few guests who have a food intolerance, so it’s important to find a way that ensures everyone enjoys a slice of the action.

A cake to cover all dietary requirements - Gluten and Dairy free

When planning your wedding, how do you decide on a theme or colour scheme? Simple, don’t stick to one, incorporate a few themes and colours for a stunning fusion wedding. Be creative with colour and include different tones and hues of your favourites across all of your styling and details.

Wedding stylist, Lindsey Hunter shares how you can create a colourful wedding using Indian, Moroccan and Scottish details for a beautiful take on a striking fusion wedding.

Emma Leighton, founder of Divine Makeup, Hawarden near Chester, gives her 5 best tips for the perfect winter wedding makeup

I love a winter wedding. Twinkling fairy lights, and cosy fireplaces, fur capes teamed with delicate dresses and gorgeous wedding bouquets full of winter blooms. And for a winter bride, it’s a wonderful opportunity to create a unique, beautiful look.

Here are our 5 tips for beautiful winter wedding makeup.

Wheat is a beautiful natural crop that gives us so much, so why not use it on your wedding day. The perfect way to include a touch of nature, wheat is versatile and looks wonderful on its own or teamed with other dried or fresh flowers and foliage. As well as being renowned for their natural petal confetti, Shropshire Petals also grow wheat on their farm for their iconic wheat sheaves and wreaths. Here are their favourite ways to include wheat on your wedding day.

Weddings are becoming bigger and more extravagant with each coming year, while there are also many couples who opt for a small reception with only the closest friends and family. However, no matter the size of a wedding, there are some trends that almost every couple seems to follow in 2017.

If you and your partner are tying the knot this year, you can incorporate the latest wedding trends set by wedding professionals and make your big day truly special. Here’s what they are.

When it comes to wedding décor, couples are looking up for inspiration. In order to maximise space and create a stunning venue, 2017 has seen vertical decorations take centre stage. Small hanging arrangements can easily look lost in large spaces, so sometimes you need to think big and bold with statement feature-pieces such as floral arches, swings and chandeliers.

This is a trend we’re really excited about – our giant teepees have so much space above eye level (often going unused) it’s high-time it was

put to good use. As hanging features grew in popularity our in-house team developed this fantastic giant rustic hoop. At 6 meters in circumference, the hoop offers maximum impact.

Stephen Alty, general manager at Festive Lights, says: “Elaborate entrances are a big trend for weddings this year and using festoon lights to illuminate the walkway to the marquee will create that magical atmosphere for guests as they arrive. Draping strings of festoons above head height can also create a tunnel of light effect, which looks spectacular. Special free-standing hooks can be used for this, or trees on the approach if it’s in a woodland setting.

While your wedding day is a celebration of your love for one another, it’s become customary to shower your guests with a little affection too, in the form of a wedding favour.

Originally introduced at high-society weddings in Europe as a way for the rich to provide their guests with a gift for attending their wedding, they were known as bonbonniere, a box covered in crystal, porcelain or gold, which was encrusted with precious stones. Inside the box were bonbons or other confectionary – which were particularly desirable at the time as sugar was an expensive treat.

Known by its official name as 15-0343 Greenery, this zesty yellow-green shade

is symbolic of vitality, rejuvenation, and our desire to authentically re-connect with the wider world and with ourselves.

And in our innate desire to ‘feeling human’ again, we seek to surround ourselves with nature, and our loved ones. Perhaps this explains why Greenery transcends so well into wedding design, and its rising popularity: the association we have with this ‘life-affirming’ shade is the association we have marriage.

Our Expert: Helen Ladlow has been working for a gorgeous wedding venue in Kent called The Orangery for over ten years. She loves meeting people and finds helping them make their dream wedding a reality hugely rewarding. Watching the reaction of the guests and groom when they first see the bride still brings a tear to her eye even after a decade of weddings! Over the years Helen has seen it all and has shared with us some top tips that she wants every bride to know.

Planning your wedding is exciting, overwhelming and fun...but it can be daunting. Here are my top tips on planning it right.

Know your budget:

Your wedding is one of the most special days of your life, but don’t let the funding of it take over the rest of your life. Discuss and agree your budget and ensure there’s a 10% contingency included – then get planning...not the other way around!

Midlands Issue

Thumbnails

Contact details

Vows and Venues Magazine would like to thank the advertisers that appear in this publication for their support and wish them continued success. Vows and Venues is an independent publication and has no affiliation with any other organisation. The views expressed in Vows and Venues do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher E.A.L. and its employees. Similarly the efficacy of any products and services featured are the sole responsibility of the supplier/manufacturer.